MSB said it had asked the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for more firefighting planes in addition to those sent from Italy due to lack of capacity and manpower.

“The drought has led to a large amount of simultaneous fires in the forests and land,” emergency services company SOS Alarm said in a statement, adding that the number of fires would “likely” increase.

Meteorologists have in recent days warned of extremely hot temperatures in Sweden, saying it’s “unusual” for a heatwave to last this long.

Record temperatures above 33C were reported in Uppsala, a city north of Stockholm, and more than 30 degrees throughout the rest of the country.

Neighbouring Norway was hit by wildfires in 100 locations in the south last week, some of which were triggered by lightning.ik